WSL's The Pulse: Department Stores Shoppers' Choice for Repeat Visits

NEW YORK - Department stores - specifically Kohl's, JCPenney and Macy's - are the retailers where most shoppers said they would make extra trips to do holiday shopping this season. That is according to the WSL Strategic Retail How America Shops-The Pulse of Shopping Life, which found that 79% of shoppers said they would consider making extra shopping trips to take advantage of a retailer's sale or coupon, and of those 57% selected department stores Kohl's, JCP and Macy's as their preferred channels. Second in place were "mass merchandisers" Walmart and Target with 56%, followed by warehouse clubs Costco and Sam's Club with 55%. In third place came in drug stores Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, which staked 54%. The report also found that the leading gift-giving categories for which shoppers are willing to make extra trips are electronics (51%), and computers and computer software (48%). The majority of shoppers say they will consider making an extra trip to save, "regardless of age or income," the report said. "Gender influences willingness a bit, but not as much as you might think." Here are some other findings: • More women (84%) said they would make the extra trip, but 75% of men do too; • Non-Caucasians (Hispanics and African Americans) especially, take advantage of retailer sales by a margin of 10 percentage points over Caucasians.